As a Nevada girl at heart, gambling has always been somewhat present in my life. And I don’t mean that in the sense of I personally gamble or that my family does (although we have on occasion had a fun night or two in Vegas), it’s just something I grew up with and never thought twice about. Oddly enough, whenever I land back at the Reno/Tahoe International Airport back at home, the chanting of the “Wheel of Fortune” slot machine that sits outside most gates makes me oddly nostalgic. It’s a funny detail to remind you of home, and it by no means represents what Nevada means to me, but it’s part of the quirky charm that I like to mention whenever someone raises their eyebrows at me after I tell them I’m from Reno.
The conversation usually follows this same flow: we go through Reno 911 (and how it’s nothing like how the show portrayed) and then a few Johnny Cash songs (because he apparently shot a man here, just to watch him die). And then I mention Lake Tahoe and how much I loved being outdoors growing up. It’s a funny thing, witnessing someone who’s starting to let go of preconceived ideas of how they thought a certain place or a person might be. Personally, I love being surprised by something, the more unexpected the better.
So when the folks over at the Sands Bethlehem and Time Out New York invited me out for a ladies weekend video shoot at their casino property in Pennsylvania, I was immediately curious and jumped at the opportunity. For starters, I had never been out to Pennsylvania before and loved how rich the area seemed in natural beauty and history with the steel industry and secondly, it’s been a little while since I’ve played Blackjack. I quickly agreed and started packing a bag.
For those of you who have been out in that area of Pennsylvania, you know the drive is relatively short. Actually, only an hour and half to be exact. As someone who adores quick little road trips, I loved how easy it was to escape the city for this weekend jaunt.
